PHILADELPHIA — Luis Severino is back where he belongs: pitching in big games for a New York team.
With the Yankee years behind him, Severino has become a reliable rotation leader once again. If all goes according to plan, the Mets will have Severino on the mound this weekend in Philadelphia against the Phillies, next weekend at home against the Phillies, in Atlanta in the most important series of the season against the Braves, and possibly on the last day of the season in Milwaukee if needed.
So far, his season has gone according to plan for the first time in years. For Severino to get to this point, his body needed to hold up. After 166 innings, it has, which validates the work he’s put in to stay healthy.
“It feels just like everything that I did and that everything the people that helped me in the offseason did worked,” Severino told the Daily News. “I’m happy about that and hopefully, it continues to work.”
Severino hasn’t thrown this many innings since 2018 when he tossed 191 1/3. The key for him — and really, for the entire team at this point in the season — is to manage his effort and energy in between starts this month to be able to maintain his innings load. The Mets still need him to go deep into games.
Plus, with the Braves still a game behind them in the NL Wild Card standings, the Mets can’t hit cruise control, but they also don’t want to expend so much energy during a playoff chase that they have nothing left for the postseason.
For Severino, that means saving bullets. On the advice of rehab coordinator Sean Bardenett, Severino isn’t throwing any bullpens this month in between starts. He’ll still work on his pitches, but he won’t throw 35 in the bullpen. Instead, he’ll throw 10-15 and won’t give it 100% effort.
“Sean told me, ‘Hey, I don’t think you should throw bullpens in September,’ and I think it’s a good idea,” Severino said. “So we haven’t been throwing any bullpens. We could go out there and do like a touch-and-feel to see, but no more bullpens. I think that was smart. If I didn’t learn something in the last 40 bullpens I threw this year, I’m not going to learn it in the last month.”
Over the winter, Severino hired a sleep coach. It was something he did in an effort to help his durability and get to know his body better. The results have been positive.
“In day-to-day stuff, I feel the same, but it’s showing up in my game as me feeling healthy and that’s an important thing,” he said. “Every time I go out there, you know, I feel 100%.”
Severino isn’t a completely different pitcher than he was in the Bronx, but he has evolved. He’s added a sweeper and increased the use of his sinker. He establishes them both early to keep hitters off balance, and if he needs to, he can reach back for more velocity by the end of his outing, hitting about 97 in later innings. Severino isn’t striking guys out at as high of a rate as when he did during his All-Star seasons, but he’s able to keep the ball on the ground and suppress hard contact and home runs.
“I feel like even when I go deeper in the game, I can still compete,” he said.
He’s also taken on a new role this season as the designated Sign Guy. The OMG sing the Mets celebrate home runs with is property of Severino when in the dugout. When Jesse Winker hit a walk-off home run at Citi Field a few weeks ago, Severino popped out of the dugout raising the sign high and displaying it to the crowd.
It was Severino’s idea. Initially made for Jose Iglesias, Severino suggested they use it to celebrate home runs. Iglesias, whose song “Omg” became the Mets’ rallying cry this season, was hesitant, not wanting it to appear as though he was making home runs hit by others about himself. So Severino stepped in and volunteered for the job.
The right-hander only got to bring it once this week in Toronto, so he’s counting on the hitters to do damage this weekend at Citizens Bank Park.
“It was getting dust without a lot of homers,” he joked. “When [Francisco] Lindor hit that homer I was really happy to be able to get that sign out there.”
It’s been a long time since Severino has had a season this fun. The training room isn’t nearly as enjoyable as the mound.
The Mets trust that he’ll help them bring the fun into October and he’s ready to repay that trust.
“He works so hard and I’m just proud of him,” said manager Carlos Mendoza. “He’s putting himself in a position where he’s helping us. He continues to take the baseball — knock on wood — and he’s been huge for us.”